what next

It's four months into 2006 and I have already had two spots close on me. Here I am eating a nice steak dinner relieved that I somehow walked away from getting locked up. When I get a call from another club owner to swing by his place on the east side and talk about setting shop up there, man does word travel fast. I wasn't crazy about the joint, I was there when they first opened and it wasn't for me. Didn't really feel safe there and these guys running the joint could do as they pretty much please, I wasn't going to butt heads with them. I knew better, but I had to listen to what they had to say out of respect for one of the main guys involved. I truly liked this one particular person and I felt I could do business with him. I just walked out of a raid at 7 30 and now at 10 30 I find myself walking in a place ready to negotiate again to bring my 10-20 limit game there. My guy ain't there , so he tells me on the phone to work it out with this other guy. No problem seemed like a nice guy, looks like he would whack you and go pick his daughter up from Catholic school like nothing happened. I walked in like I was the man, said hello to a couple of friendly faces and looked around, it had four or five tables of no-limit, one game was a 10-25 so this place had some heavy duty action, big limits in a underground clubs tend to make me nervous. I went inside this tiny smoking room with the guy, he never met me but I know he knew what type of following I had. We hammer out an agreement, but something isn't right but I shake on it and walk down the two flights of dark creaky railroad flat stairs. How am I going to ask people to walk up two flights, alot of my players were sixty and up ,that was the first sign of me backing out. That and the fact that there seemed to be no room for me, every table looked in use. Here I am on my third location. It's very hard to get people to keep coming but I had to for me to make money. On my way home another club in Chelsea calls me up and asks me whats up? How I am doing? Would I like to come on by tomorrow, sure I say why not. Now I know I shook on a deal, I knew it wasn't right but I had to do whats best for me. It wasn't like I got off my game there, all I had vested was a conversation. Now I go over to this spot in Chelsea run by some Russian guys I know, nice place, all they had were tournaments and small no limit. The guy I meet with makes me a generous offer to bring my game, I like the place and the location and I feel better about my chances of getting off a limit game there. All I had to do now is tell these other guys I changed my mind, I don't think they were going to be happy but I had to let them know. I called my guy up and told him no hard feelings but his spot wasn't for me and wished him all the best. I sent out the text messages and let people know where I am at. I knew it was going to be a struggle with the raids and people losing their money to the police. It was better to go to A.C. I gave it a shot for a couple of days, things were not happening fast enough for me and then I was told a new spot opened up in midtown,this was one guy I couldnt beat, his following was strong and at this time I didn't have the resources to compete against him so I figured if u can't beat him I might as well join him and I did. Plus I didn't have the stress of trying to put together a game. All I did was show up and play on the sheet. The action was pretty amazing!

taking a shot

In the early spring of 2006 I had no place to host my game and little money I had to figure out my next move, where would I land next. I am thinking screw this I might as well jump on a plane and head to Vegas for good I could always get a job dealing or working the floor out there but in my heart I knew I wasn't finished in N.Y. I didn't come this far and not take a shot, I felt it was my turn.

A guy I know calls me and tells me he got a spot on the eastside in a nice location. At this point I have nothing to lose so I go and meet him. I tell him what I want and he agrees, it's a freeroll for us both. He has space and I've got loyal players who are looking to play. He says are you sure you will get off on the agreed day; I tell him by 7 pm I will have cards in the air. When that night came I got started at 7 05 and by the weekend I had 2 full games with a list of people waiting. This tough Latin dealer looks at me and says that I am the Frank White of limit poker. The movie fan in me thinks of "The King of New York" and I say the Limit King of N.Y. my man!!!

The spot was in a great location, it was a former photography studio for food layouts, high ceilings, spacious as all hell and most importantly enough room for 5 tables. The entrance was a gothic looking arch doorway separate from the rest of the residential high-rise. His crew was in charge, his dealers, his bouncers and clerks. I knew if I was to be happy in this situation I would have to get my guys some work. Every poker person that i knew was struggling, the golden age was over.

The guys i was now working with hadn't come up the hard way like me. They we're spoiled. I learned in 95 when the Diamond Club was open, that was the beginning of the golden age when people played either limit or pot limit, none of this silly small no limit games. This was when 150 people we're in the club and you knew most of them you felt part of something special, nowadays all these yahoos see poker on television and don't even have a clue what they are experiencing. We would have played in the middle of Park Ave if we could. Now because of T.V., we had a whole new player; younger, obnoxious and usually knowing something about the game from T.V. or the internet. They all wanted to play baby no limit and do all the stupid Hollywood moves. It was tough on me because I loved the game of poker and they we're changing something that i loved. I had to put up with it and go with the times but i knew that i had to keep the limit game going no matter what and i did!

I tried to get some of my friends work to no avail and this bothered me. i was earning but couldn't rock the boat too much and have these mutts try to steal my game. So I put up with it, weighed the positives against the negatives and just went with the flow. These things have a way of working themselves out. Now this beautiful residential building overlooking Union Square was a great location but had one small problem. The neighbors, who were paying I’m sure a lot of money for these pricey apts, didn't want a illegal poker club with people smoking out in front of it as tenants in the place. That's when someone called the police or the mayor’s office and got a hastily put together raid on us. I was sitting at a empty table while 2 games we're going on when the doorbell rang and in come the morals[vice] cops. I’m like fuck i don't want to spend the night as a guest of the city at the tombs. Surprisingly it wasn't that organized and some of the police knew me from other raids. They didn't seem to care that much about me and none of my loyal players or coworkers gave me up. I walked out of that high-rise for the last time. After spending 4 days the last time in central booking it was a place i was in no hurry to go back to. Within 2 hours a club uptown calls me and asks me to come on by.

getting to know the king

Wow! Here i am all blogged up and ready to tell the world about me and what I do and why I am the best at putting together limit games in NYC and the great action and characters that frequent my game. What I'm talking about here is a 10-20 half-kill that plays loose with plenty of action. I go 7 nights a week, and always get off, I like to get cards in the air by 6 30, so I fill up fast!! I want to tell people the real stuff that goes on, I've been doing this 12 years, I am at the point where i just promote and show up, grabass and hangout. Its the nuts!!! They said I was crazy trying to put a limit game together 2 years ago, every place was getting raided by the police, held up or run by people I didn't know. Everyone is playing no limit anyway, thats what they want, thousands of no limit players but only maybe 150 limit players .
In November of 05 this club falls in my lap downtown and I say were playing 10-20 half kill .The reason I did this was because I had little money to play with and I was a one man show with all the stuff that comes with running a game, selling chips, taking phonecalls, getting people there, anything having to do with the game that's what I did. I had already spent 9 years in and out of poker clubs in NYC it's what I am good at. With everything going on, if I had to play I wanted to play limit and not have all my chips at risk. I was off and running!! I put together some nice games in a not so easy location downtown by the Holland Tunnel , people were great, they came, so I put myself on the map as a promoter of well run crazy limit action games.
I got a good hardcore following of dedicated "fuck nl"players, I only had the place for 3 months so I ran with it. Didn't cost me anything, in the end gave the guy half of what I made, I felt like it was a freeroll. The minute I closed down of course people approach me and want me to bring my game to them.
Poker in NYC is funny, a guys clerking one minute at a spot and the next is running a joint across town.
You have to try and get along with everybody. In NY poker thats tough, good luck, there are alot of characters and people of questionable integrity guys who want to take all of your money!!